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I hadn’t heard hi the metal door to my room wide open and stood aside for me to walk past him

Every evening, a guard would lock ainst what, I wasn’t sure I couldn’t exactly complain My individual bedroom was at least the size of the room I shared with Raquel It had a TV, a se bed Not uarantee it was a lot nicer than the cells they stuffed prisoners into up at the state prison

My only coh it’d been several days, Gabe hadn’t tried to visit since he rushed out of here I hated to ad the feel of his arut tith anguish, so I tried to keep hihts Not even my father had made an effort to contact otten about my existence All except for Manuel

“You’re late,” I told hiht line for the breakfast tray he’d left on the counter Scrah upon half a dozen slices of toast with peanut butter My favorite I stuffed a slice intoon up there?”

“Patrols have been tripled,” he said with a heavy sigh, raking a hand through his shortly cropped hair “I just got off an earlythe forest We’re having a hard ti up”

A shard of toast caught in one anywhere near the Hell Gate in several days Surely, I couldn’t be affecting it all the way from here, if I was really some sort of key

“Is everyone okay?” I gulped fro my throat

There was one Nephilim warrior in particular who I knew to be a little too self-sacrificing He wouldn’t think twice to put hier to save a friend Or me

“Everyone is fine” His eyes looked intoall safety precautions necessary”

I nodded gratefully If there was one thing I appreciated about Manuel, he didn’t hold anything back If so, I could count on him to tell me the truth

“Now, shall we begin?” He gestured to the two mats he’d set up on the floor

Scra to stuff another piece of toast in my mouth, I ran to the mat and plopped down Gone were the days when I rolledan hour staring at the floor could helpto try my hardest

“Close your eyes,” he said, settling onto his own mat The knees of his khaki pants were scuffed and there was a brown sed after his patrol in the woods I was glad to see no bloodstains or wounds on his visible skin “Feel the nothingness Breathe deeply and lose yourself in the depths”

I squeezed my eyes shut and attempted to block out the distractions of the room Dim stars danced on the back ofmy mind had become nearly impossible these days What with the worries aboutled to reach that void that Manuel see uncoet there for once

“You’re not concentrating” Manuel’s voice runess”